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Lately I find a lot of people asking me if I'll be going for my PhD. I never really know what to say to this: will I? Will I really? I like my area of research and there's no shortage of things to explore in video game studies, but the idea of 4 more years of school make me cringe. At least starting right away, because then I'll be thirty by the time I'm done school and thirty is way old. Sorta like twenty was way old at one time.

Still, academia seems to be all about momentum. It sorta feels like an icy hill that you have to run up, and you slip and you slip until your feet go so fast that they're on fire. Then you melt footholds up the mountain and you're getting by... until you take a year off or two. Then your feet cool down and you're back to slipping and sliding all over again. I'll never forget what happened when I went to Korea - I wanted to study instant messaging, but the field broke wide open while I was out of school and I came back to ten thousand articles saying exactly what I had wanted to say. Technology moves lightning fast and, while theory lags behind, it still chases innovation like an angry dog hungry for a Puma sneaker. And just think of all the reading one has to do to catch up... oh god, the reading.

So any time off is not just a break, it's a significant dent in your theorizing face. A little early to be contemplating this, but with people moving away and those who remain in Korea, the future is always a little tiny bit interesting.

Posted by Chris at 10:57 PM >> Commentations (0)